The story of illegal immigration of some Rohingyas of Burma and some Bangladeshi citizens to our country and then settling down in Jammu district came to public domain for the first time when the Home Minister of the State disclosed in response to a question in the Legislative Assembly during its recent session. The Minister said that about 5700 Rohingyas and Burmese had settled down in a couple of localities in Jammu. Till that time nobody knew anything about these illegal immigrants nor did the previous or the present Government give any indication at any point of time that these immigrants had illegally settle down in the State. The question is why the Governments, previous as well as the present one did not reveal the news of the arrival of these illegal immigrants.
The Home Minister gave a specific number of these illegal immigrants. This means that the present Government is in know of the presence of these immigrants and the bizarre story of their arrival over the years. It did not disclose anything more about the incident and strictly confined itself to the single sentence that about 5700 Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals had settled in specific localities in Jammu district.
Total silence of the previous Government and subsequently of PDP-BJP Coalition Government is variously interpreted by observers. Silence of the Government can be interpreted as indication of soft paddling with the matter.
Yet one more question thrown up by the issue is how come important documents like State Subject Certificate, Aadhaar Card and ration card were obtained by them. Under whose advice and with whose assistance these important and crucial documents were obtained by them. This can happen when there is a nexus between illegal immigrants and revenue, police, intelligence and administrative establishment. At what level is that connection is something which only the investigating authorities can establish. The legal and constitutional aspects of the issues are those that speak of the law of State Subject-hood and Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The breach of law has happened on more than one score. For example, illegally and clandestinely sneaking into a foreign country (India), travelling across the country and finally choosing a State for settling down which is governed by the State subject law, entering into clandestine connectivity to obtain fake Aadhaar card, ration card and State Subject Certificate. In a test case of an illegally settled family of 8 members in Belicharana locale, the eldest person of the family has got a fake State Subject Certificate on the basis of which the family has been given Aadhaar card, ration card and has been drawing ration from State ration depots on BPL basis. This is one case. The rest are under investigation. The sequence of events can be something like this: some unknown agency has prompted them to move to India clandestinely; directed them to move to J&K across about eight States through which they had to pass; concentrate in Jammu and Samba districts, establishing secret contacts with officials who helped them with issuance of fake crucial documents and finally the shroud of complete silence thrown over the episode by the State Governments. The matter has surfaced with full force only when the Union Home Ministry asked for a detailed report from the State Government.
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